The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-03-17
Another Railroad Slaughter.

SMOKER, tUEueu CuuPioteiy wv c
struck on top of the others all being
crushed almost ont of shape. A wreck.
ing train went from Boston to the scene
of the wreck. Thirty.three persons were
killed and forty injured Among these
are many women. The bridge where the
wreck occurred is comparatively new and
the accident was caused BY brake on
one of the cars giving away causing the
car to strike against the abutment Of the
bridge. The smoking car after it fell
caught fire bat the fire department was
promptly on hand and prevented any
spreading of the flames. The train was
crowded with working people and the
most intense excitement prevails among
their friends who are anxious to learn
the names of those killed and injured.
The police say that twenty.thres were
killed outright, and that nearly as many
more will die.
The engineer when his engine broke
from the train kept right on to Forest
Hill and gave the alarm instead of stop.
ping to ascertain the extent of the acci.
dent, and on that account it was possible
to get assistance at once.
The bodies of the killed were horribly
mangled, some of their heads being en-:
tirely severed from their bodies and
many of the bodies are crushed beyond
recognition.
The bridge evidently gave way when
the fourth car was passing over it. The
five rear cars went through to the road.
way, landing in q mass of splinters In
the. street. The strain of the falling
cars pulled the three cars in advance
from the rails. They remained on top
of the embankmept, but were pulled OF
their trucks and the floor of each was
forced nearly to the roof, while the seats
were iumbled together in great confusion.
The end of the second coach was q mass
of splinters, caused by the car ahead
grinding against it when the others went
down the embankment. The third coach
was Aattened to the ground as if it had
fallen on its trucks from great height,
although it remained on the edge of the
embankment. The roof of the fourth
car also remained on the embankment,
having evidently been torn from its
fastenings when the coach went through.
The next four cars went down in heap.
The smoker, which was on the rear Of
the train, fell in the midst of the coaches
ard is actually ground in splinters. The
inmates of the smoker were all either
killed or injured-no one escaping with
out injury of some kind. Two of the
coaches went clear across the roadway,
landing against the stone wall that
bounded large field at the foot of the
hill. AS The cars lie in their present
location, they present a picture of such
absolute demolition that it seems remark.
able that any person in them escaped
alive.
J. II. Lennon, is 6sh dealer, whose
stable is on the hill just above the bridge.
Lennon was Harvesting his team when
the train came along and he turned to
see it pass. He was horror struck when
he saw the train take, its awful plunge
through the bridge. For moment,
Lennon says, there was perfect quiet and
then the cries of the injured were heard
issuing from the debris. Selling an axe
from bis barn Lennon started for the
wreck, which he reached in q moment.
He climbed into window of one of the
coaches that had landed against the stone
wall and set to work to release those
persons who had been pinned down BY
broken timbers. Lennon, with his axe,
released four men who were badly hurt,
and banded them out of the window to
other men who had come to the rescue.
He also handed out the bodies of two
dead women, one of whom was nearly
decapitated and had both arms severed
from her body. During all this time
Lennon says the shrieks Of the wounded
and the groans of the dying made
pandemonium around him.
BosToN, March 14.-George Sanford,
of Roslindale, was in the second car Of
the wrecked train. he told thrilling
story of his experience. He said: II
took the train by Roslindale with my
mother. We were sitting in the middle
of.the second car. There was absolutely
nothing to give premonition of the dis.
aster. All ut once there was crash,
deafening noise, moment or two of the
grinding of timbers and then for
moment all was still. It had come with
such awful suddenness that everybody
seemed to be paralzyed. Then arose q
confusion of sounds from the wrecked
cars below. Voices were calling cut for
aid, while all around US there were
groans from those who we're badly hurt
or dying. The floor of the car seemed to
be forced up to the roof, our entire coach
having collapsed apparently. When the
crash came our heads were banged
against the roof, while the seats were
strewn about everywhere. Many people
were under the seats and some we're
crushed between them. Directly in
front of US sat man named Ryan, one
of my neighbors in Rosindale. We we're
conversing with him at the moment Of
the crash. Ryan was half turned in his
seat as he talked and a moment after the
wreck, when I saw, him again, he was
actually run through and through by .
splinters from the bottom of the car.
My mother and I were fastened in
between our seat aud Ryan's but manag-
ed to break off Ryan's seat and release
ourselves. My mother had tainted and
at first thought she was dead. pulled
her out through the window, and she
soon revived in the open air. I then
secured a carriage and sent her home,
and then devoted myself in the release of
other passengers. The sight among. the
debris was horrible. There were many
people dead, pinned down by timbers,
many wounded and all were horribly
mangled.
The wreck of the bridge lay under the
debris of the train, almost completely
shut out from view. Lying by the side
of one of the splintered cars was one of
the main iron girders of the bridge,
which showed a clean, new fracture
through It's entire breadth, at the point
of junction of two of its parts. This
girder was composed Of two parallel
plates of heavy wrought iron, connected
by braces of wrought iron and the whole
securely bolted.
The opinion is generally expressed by
those who have personally inspected the I
wreck that the breaking of this girder
was the undoubted cause of the disaster,
but there is much doubt as to the cause
of the breaking of the girder. 1t has
been utated by some that there was a jar
ring and humping sensation just previous
l.. L. Il L. L.